A character’s class determines most of their gameplay features, but other aspects of their upbringing contribute to their areas of expertise. This page will cover the various origins you can choose for your character during character creation in Baldur’s Gate 3, including what you get from each origin and which origins are the best for various classes and builds.

What Are Origins in Baldur’s Gate 3¶

As discussed in the Starting Skills by Class and Race in Baldur’s Gate 3 page, your starting skills are mostly a function of your class (which provide a list of skill you can choose to be Proficient in), and, in some cases, your character’s race (some races are automatically Proficient in certain skills).

In addition, however, each character can pick an origin, which adds a bit of flavor to your character by giving them Proficiency in two bundled skills. These origin skill Proficiencies are free, not bound by any class or racial skills - want to be a Barbarian with the Sage origin? A Criminal Druid? An Urchin Paladin? Go for it! There are only two limitations to these free origin skills: first, you cannot curate the bundled skills (Urchin always gives you Sleight of Hand and Stealth, if you don’t like one of the two skills… well, you don’t have much option but to pick a different origin, and hence, two different skills); and second, while you can pick whatever race/class/origin combo you want, that doesn’t mean these elements will necessarily gel. If you pick an Urchin Barbarian, you still need points in Intelligence to boost the Arcana and History skills Urchin gives you, which might not be the best combination for the whole unarmored brute aesthetic the Barbarian excels at.

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(1 of 2) The Urchin is an interesting origin for any character with high Dexterity.

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The Urchin is an interesting origin for any character with high Dexterity. (left), The Folk Hero origin will give a character proficiency in the Animal Handling and Survival skills - a no-brainer for a Druid or Ranger. (right)

Best Origins in Baldur’s Gate 3¶

Before we discuss good origin/class combos, let’s have a look at all the origins you can choose from in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Obviously we’re looking for synergies here, which means adding skills to builds that naturally already want Ability Scores that just so happen to boost said origin skills. Most warrior classes want either Strength and Dexterity (or both), while casting classes tend to want some Dexterity, Constitution (although this Ability Score doesn’t contribute to any skills) and whatever Ability Score contributes to their spellcasting ability.

• Charlatan: Being able to lie via the Deception skill is always a nice ability to have during dialog, but Sleight of Hand is incredibly useful, as it allows you to open locks, disarm traps and pick pockets. The only bother is finding a character who wants Charisma and Dexterity… Fortunately the Bard, Sorcerer and Warlock all fit the bill. The Paladin is also a viable, if unorthodox choice.

• Folk Hero: An obvious choice for a Druid, this origin gives Proficiency in the Animal Handling and Survival skills. What Druid doesn’t want to be able to interact with animals and track enemies? Pick this and you’re just getting two free skills. Both of these skills use Wisdom, which the Druid wants anyways. This origin also applies for the Ranger, although they may not invest as much into Wisdom.

• Guild Artisan: Giving Proficiency in both the Insight and Persuasion skill, this is an interesting origin for Paladins, Clerics and Druids. If you want to play a vanilla Paladin, this will give them Proficiency in more skills from the Paladin skill list, and being a Charisma-hungry class, it will (along with Intimidation) give them two dialog skills. Clerics and Druids both want Wisdom, so Insight is a fine Proficiency that’ll help them sniff out deception. Perhaps not the most interesting combo, but who doesn’t want to play an astute inquisitor or a congenial holy warrior?

• Urchin: A very interesting origin, as it adds both the useful Sleight of Hand and Stealth skills. This can mitigate the need for a Rogue, and if you’re a Dexterity warrior or a spellcaster who starts out with a Dexterity score of 14 (16 is doable if you’re an Elf!) you’ll be pretty damn competent at two skills that allow you to open locks, disarm traps, pick pockets and sneak around unseen. Quite a boon to add to, say, a Bard, Ranger, Warlock or Wizard.